It’s not the impending snow storm, but the “Crossover Day” flurry that happens Wednesday afternoon on the House and Senate floors as legislators work to pass or defer all the bills on the docket before the end of the day.

 

Before that flurry, committees met to discuss a variety of bills already passed through their original side of the legislature.

 

House Education committee members passed a bill that would provide state funding for educational programs for children in treatment centers on a 14-1 vote.

 

SB 158 provides funding to a student’s home district as well as the district the treatment center is located in and has the support of Gov. Daugaard. In addition, the bill clarifies the discrepancy that funding for the student in the treatment center is provided by the home district.

 

ASBSD supports the bill.

 

House Bill 1239, which would authorize school districts to implement certain tax levies at 30 cents per thousand dollars of taxable valuation for pension and health insurance funding purposes, passed the Senate Taxation committee on a 5-1 vote.

 

School districts are currently able to assess a levy for the district’s pension fund. HB 1239 would provide school districts the flexibility to apply funds from the levy to health insurance costs as well.

 

ASBSD supports the bill.

 

The House State Affairs passed an amended version of Senate Bill 5 on a 11-2 vote.

 

SB 5 would establish a Council on Higher Education and adjust the funding mechanism for higher education based on work done by the summer committee on Post-Secondary Education-Purpose and Funding. The amended version calls for the appointment of a school board member and a superintendent to the council.

 

ASBSD will continue to monitor the bills’ progress. For updates, check the ASBSD blog and bill tracker.